AKATIGA and research for CSOs

AKATIGA Foundation or Yayasan AKATIGA is an independent CSO focusing on social research on problems in rural and urban areas, covering issues on land, labour, small and micro entrepreneurship, including initiatives in social movements. In addition to research, AKATIGA’s activities centre around dissemination of information like publication, documentation and training. The information and analysis are aimed at supporting the development of social discourses as well as to endorse empowerment and advocacy conducted by grass root communities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

AKATIGA conducts this advocacy through cooperation with several strategic and relevant networks in order to effectively reach to the bottom layer of certain marginalised communities. AKATIGA also provides services in research methodology training, primarily targeted to CSOs but also for government institutions. The main aim of this service is to increase their capacity in analysis in order to be able to plan more effective strategies and contextual advocacy. AKATIGA has been publishing its research as books (there are some 44 titles on SME, land, labour and governance studies), journal of social analysis (four monthly periodicals, since 1995), working papers and research reports, newspaper clippings (electronic and printed, since 1998), annotated bibliography series (since 2005) and pocket books, posters and module targeted to the wider public and specific NGOs.

Although working with a lot of advocacy CSOs, AKATIGA does not consider itself as an advocacy CSO for it also works in the SME issues, and thus prefer to see itself as a ‘research-based’ CSO. AKATIGA was established in September 1991, by researchers from Bogor and Bandung, West Java, who were motivated to set up an independent research institute. The history of AKATIGA traces back to the collaboration of two Indonesian universities –Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB, Bogor Agriculture Institute) and Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB, Bandung Institute of Technoogy)—with a Dutch research centre ISS (Institute of Social Studies, based in The Hague) in a research project “West Java Rural Non-farm Sector Research Project” in 1987-1991. When the project was completed, not only were some assets left like the library, office equipment, but also some dedicated researchers who then decided to establish an independent research institute in 1991. The name AKATIGA was taken from the address of this new institute, namely the street Adipati Kertabumi (number) Tiga (Three), in Bandung.

Besides research, AKATIGA has also been acting as a training service provider to share the skills in social analysis, research methodology and documentation trainings for CSOs especially grass root organisations and NGOs since 2005. This change was mainly motivated by AKATIGA’s commitment and interest to increase grassroots CSOs’ analytical capacity, which has been proven important to formulate more effective and contextual strategies for their beneficiaries, who are mainly the poor.

With 20 full-time staff and an annual turnover between IDR1-2B (USD125-250K), as a research institute, AKATIGA has understandably been using the Internet intensively since 1995. For AKATIGA, the Internet has been a valuable tool for research, both for information seeking and for information dissemination. Not only are various ‘treasure’ journals and articles available online or in the mailing-lists for the researchers to refer to, but the Internet also helps AKATIGA to disseminate the research outputs like books, reports, and the likes. Although such outputs are also published and promoted in the website, AKATIGA finds that publicising such materials via mailing lists has generated quicker responses (comments, purchase orders, etc.) from its colleagues and extended networks. Today, more CSO partners and general public order AKATIGA’s books or library sources via emails. Clearly, Internet use has facilitated AKATIGA to achieve its mission to provide meaningful research for civil society and wider public in Indonesia.